


Pull The Trigger

by mylittlejaybird



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Flashbacks, Gen, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Triggers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-23
Updated: 2014-07-23
Packaged: 2018-02-10 03:56:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2010048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mylittlejaybird/pseuds/mylittlejaybird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jason wasn't in the present. He was back in the warehouse, hearing the Joker laugh and feeling his body break. And still he'd hoped for rescue.</p>
<p>It didn't come then.</p>
<p>But it came now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pull The Trigger

**Author's Note:**

> My own PTSD got triggered, and after I calmed down I wrote this to try and further calm down. I tried to keep writing but... I couldn't.

Jason slammed the apartment door behind him, locking both deadbolts, sliding the door chain in place, turning the knob lock, closing the jimmy-proof padlock, and setting the alarm system. He double and triple checked them before he staggered to the two living room windows, the bedroom window, and the tiny window in the bathroom, ensuring the locks still held fast and that the traps were still active on all of them.

Only once he was positive he was as safe as he could be did he allow himself to collapse in the hallway, sliding down the wall with his head between his knees, arms wrapped around his head. He didn't remember unholstering his guns, but the comforting weight of them were in his hands and he wasn't about to put them away.

His breathing was too fast for the fetal position he'd put himself in, and his body was insisting it wasn't getting enough oxygen. He took in great gulps of air, gasping in the quiet of the apartment, the only other sound sirens in the distance. It took him a moment to realize he shouldn't be able to hear sirens - the place was soundproofed. He sat up and aimed both guns down the hallway, eyes wide and showing too much white, his breathing harsh in the quiet.

"It’s me, little wing. Don't shoot."

Jason exhaled and let his arms lower; they were shaking too hard for him to get a proper shot off anyways. He shook his head and put a hand to his forehead, closing his eyes against the tears that sprung to them unbidden. His voice broke when he answered, cracking like he was a teenager again. “You followed me.”

Dick didn’t come any closer. Instead he crouched at the end of the hallway and spoke with a soothing tone. “I was worried about you.”

Jason choked and threw a gun at the other man. “At least close the fucking window.”

"It is closed Jay." His face sympathetic when Jason raised his head to look at him in disbelief. He'd caught the gun and set it carefully down beside him, where Jason could retrieve it later. "I promise. I even rearmed it."

“What do you want?”

"To make sure you were okay." His voice was so soft, tone worried. "You left so fast."

Right, the warehouse. The warehouse where a dozen men had been dosed with Joker’s laughing gas, and the sound of them, the desperate sound of their laughter even as tears streamed down their face had distracted Jason. One had come after him with a crowbar, and the first hit had taken him by surprise. The rest connected because Jason was no longer there.

No, he was in a different warehouse, eleven years prior, feeling his bones give under the crowbar wielded by a merciless madman. He had been so _sure_ that Bruce was going to come any moment - that he was still going to be saved by his dark knight. Even when he was left broken and bleeding - trying to get him and his birth mother out despite the blinding pain - he'd _still_ been sure Batman would save him. And then the bomb had hit 00:00:00 and the next thing Jason knew he was crawling out of his own grave.

Jason snapped back to the present, struggling against the tight hold around him, trying to aim his gun against his attacker only to realize it had been taken from him. He cried out and struggled, striking at the body next to his. It took him a full thirty two seconds to recognize that the sounds coming from the other man were words.

"Jason! Jay, it's alright, it's just me! You're okay little brother. I’m here. You're safe. No one can hurt you."

He stopped fighting immediately, his entire body shaking. He was pulling in deep, panicky breaths, his sweat drenching his clothes and hair to him. He was a right mess. He closed his eyes tightly and bit back a sound as he leaned into Dick’s embrace, greedily taking the other man's comfort.

"I've got you Jaybird." Dick soothed, holding him tighter. "I've got you."


End file.
